To balance the nuclear deal, defeat Isis and confront Iran

 

In the next couple of months, the US Congress will debate whether the Iranian nuclear deal is likely to work 

  as arms control. But the bigger debate is whether the agreement, with its relaxation of sanctions, means America is halfhearted — at most — in confronting Iranian sponsorship of so much of the violent chaos that is spreading across the Middle East. That is why the US should choose this moment to develop a serious, full-bodied strategy to defeat the barbaric Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) in Syria as well as Iraq.
This strategy confronts Iranian ambitions in both places and would therefore be the ideal companion to diplomacy that stops an Iranian nuclear threat. Such an exertion of US power to build a powerful coalition would reassure many in Washington and around the world who are ambivalent about the deal. It would also be the right move to protect America and its allies.
The terrorist danger Isis presents is rising towards the level that al-Qaeda presented in the years immediately before the 9/11 attacks on the US. Leaders should ask themselves: if Isis carries out a truly catastrophic attack, in the region or in America, what would they wish they had done before that day? Those post-catastrophe plans must be prepared now, before such an event. Surely no one thinks the current level of effort really is all America could or would do.
As executive director of the 9/11 Commission, I saw that cycle of horror, recrimination and reaction close up. I remember all too well what people wished they had done in the preceding years. There were political and military options short of an invasion and indefinite occupation of Afghanistan but they were deemed too risky. So, having refused to take limited risks to prevent a catastrophe, Americans have paid and are still paying a far heavier price.
A powerful coalition to defeat Isis must lead with a new political strategy before the military one. And that means confronting Iranian ambitions.more

The secret deal with Iran make matters worse

The recent nuclear  deal with  Iran  proposed by Obama’s team will lead to the very negative consequences 

it was supposed to prevent. As a direct strong reaction, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister   denounced 'aggressive statements' by Iran, after Tehran accused Saudi ally Bahrain of stoking Gulf tensions by making unfounded allegations against it.
'This is unacceptable to us,' Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a joint news conference with visiting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
'These statements are escalating and they are many.'
Mr. Jubeir also added that these comments clearly show that Iran dose not intent to change its behavior in the region. In addition , the Arab countries denounce Obama's nuclear deal with the axis of devil  because the governing Mullahs in Iran do not want to change their policy of meddling in Arab countries and still want to spend their oil income on exporting their so-called revolution in Muslim countries in the middle East.

 Therefore, congress needs to act decisively before this deal can cause any more damage and put in place a new, tougher sanctions regime that has the potential for changing Iran’s reckless ways and restore faith in the United States as a durable friend and powerful ally.
Robbins is senior fellow for National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC.

Although Obama says the only alternative to the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran is war but  the deal itself   is pushing the Middle East towards horrible conflicts.
In his most recent Saturday radio address, President Obama said that without the proposed deal “there would be no limits on Iran’s nuclear program. There would be no monitoring, no inspections. The sanctions we rallied the world to impose would unravel. Iran could move closer to a nuclear weapon. Other countries in the region might race to do the same. And we’d risk another war in the most volatile region in the world.” But in fact the deal is more likely to cause those ills than prevent them. The congress should move strongly to hinder this catastrophe more

Iran deal at risk: Key senators demand secret annexes

The Washington Post, 22 July 2015

 In a written statement released by two prominent Republicans yesterday, we learned:
Congressman Mike Pompeo (KS-04) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) on Friday had a meeting in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during which the agency conveyed to the lawmakers that two side deals made between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will remain secret and will not be shared with other nations, with Congress, or with the public. One agreement covers the inspection of the Parchin military complex, and the second details how the IAEA and Iran will resolve outstanding issues on possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.
A spokesperson for Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) — Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman and co-sponsor of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act — this morning tells Right Turn, “Senators Corker and [Ben] Cardin sent a private letter to Secretary [John] Kerry requesting two additional documents associated with the Iran nuclear agreement that were left out of the materials required to be submitted to Congress per the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act that the president signed into law.”
Under the terms of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, the clock does not start running on Congress’s 60 days to review the deal until all the agreement “and all related materials and annexes” associated with the deal are turned over. A central purpose of the bill, as its co-sponsors often declared, was to ensure that Congress got the entire deal. Without the bill, the president — just as he is attempting to do now — would never be compelled to reveal what he had promised the Iranians. A summary of the bill stated, “The bill requires the president to submit to Congress the agreement and all related documents, including specifics on verification and compliance. This ensures Congress will get to see the entire deal and make an independent judgment on its merits.” On the floor of the Senate on May 11, Corker urged his colleagues to pass the bill, stating unambiguously that “it ensures transparency. The bill requires the president to submit to Congress the text and all details of any nuclear agreement with Iran, if one is reached.” The president signed off and now appears poised to ignore it.more